Michael Lin
WRIT 340
Space Habitats: A Distant Dream or Reality?
Space exploration has brought mankind a multitude of benefits. This article is intended to make
readers aware the applications and necessities of space habitats for the future of space
exploration. However, complications arise regarding the science and engineering of space
habitats as well as the financial issues that follow.
Introduction
The world may be in very grave danger as of right now. Non-renewable resources are depleting,
overpopulation is at an all-time high, and poverty is on the rise [1]. Earth is inhabited by many
species, and humans are one of them. Not only do we depend on the Earth for its resources to
make computers, paper, houses, and everything else that we enjoy on a daily basis, we depend on
it to live. Formed under the rare Earth hypothesis about 4.54 billion years ago, Earth is a one of a
kind planet in our solar system [2]. However as human beings, we are also responsible for the
destruction of this unique masterpiece due to recent human activities such as deforestation, fossil
fuel burning, and the buildup of radioactive waste in the last fifty years [3]. Recent studies by
scientists also indicate an exponential growth in amount of total human population in the world
since 1800. Since then, the size of the human population has exponentially increased from 1.12
billion to 6.87 billion in the last 200 years [4]! If we continue to tread further in this direction
then the very planet we know it may collapse. Steven Hawking, a world-renowned astrophysicist
and advocate of space exploration predicts that “humanity will not likely survive another 1000
years without escaping beyond our fragile planet” and suggests mankind look into space for a
solution [5].
History
As you may know, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has been the star
player in space exploration since its creation in 1958. Since then, the scope of its achievements
have spanned from the International Space Station (ISS), to landing on the moon, and sending a
robot to Mars [6]-[8]. However, former NASA administrator Michael Griffin states “the goal
isn't just scientific exploration ... it's also about extending the range of human habitat out from
Earth into the solar system as we go forward in time ... In the long run a single-planet species
will not survive ... If we humans want to survive for hundreds of thousands or millions of years,
we must ultimately populate other planets.” [9]. In 1946, the earliest concept of a space habitat
for future space colonization was first introduced by Dr. Werner Von Braun in the form of
terrestrial expandable habitats and a rotating wheel space station [10]. Dr. Werner Von Braun
was a German scientist in America who first suggested the use of space stations to serve as an
assembly platform for manned lunar expeditions. His space habit design consisted of the
fundamental torus module spinning about the center-point of its axis which would become a
precedent for all future space station designs to produce artificial gravity. Subsequently, concept
designs for deep-space habitats (DSH) like the Stanford Torus and the ISS were derived from
Von Braun’s Space Station as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. The Stanford Torus was the first
space habit that was designed by NASA in conjunction with Stanford University researchers to
build a space infrastructure that was capable of accommodating a community of ten thousand
people to live in space [11]. The design of the Stanford Torus was on a much larger scale than
Von Braun’s space station which only considered housing a number of people in its 50 meter in
diameter space station [11]. Nevertheless, the plan to implement the Stanford Torus was
abandoned due to the cost and the sheer manpower that it would take to construct it.
Rick Guidice/NASA
Figure 1. Illustration of the proposed design of the Stanford Torus in 1969 at Stanford
University. Derived from the design of the Von Braun Space Station, the deep-space habitat is
capable of housing ten thousand people.
NASA
Figure 2. The International Space Station as of May 23rd, 2010 taken from Space shuttle Atlantis
after undocking.
Since then however, the International Space station -- a smaller version of the Stanford Torus
similar to the Von Braun Space Station was built. The ISS has proven to be the most successful
up to date space habitat since its installation in the lower Earth orbit in 1998. It was made
possible from the collaborative efforts between 16 nations. More than 69 countries have been
involved in the ground breaking research for the orbiting laboratory that advances our
fundamental scientific knowledge, supports the exploration of space beyond low Earth orbit and
provides a multitude of benefits to humans on Earth [12]. Because of these advances in space
exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) states that “We are
able to have water purification technology for third world countries, help farmers monitor crop
growth for diseases and fertility differences, and help doctors perform neurosurgery on patients
using neuroArm, a highly specialized robotics technology borrowed from the ISS” [12]. Besides
giving society state of the art technologies, the space station is a home to people in orbit. The
space station's labs are where crew members do research, as there are some types of research that
can only be done in space [6]. Although the ISS is continuously managed by the efforts of
various nations, namely Russia and the U.S., it is only expected to run until 2028 [13]. Not
having a space habitat in space may limit our capabilities of space exploration in the future. It is
clear to see how a space habitat like the ISS has helped advance our society. The applications for
a space habitat are imperative, vast, and limitless. Now the question stands: Should we build
another space habitat like the ISS but on a grander scale capable of supporting human life as
proposed in the Stanford Torus?
Applications
When you think of space and space habitats, the image of Aliens or Elysium may come to your
mind. But in the minds of the engineers at NASA, proposed designs of the next generation deep-
space habitats will be in the form of modules that are derived from the existing ISS models as
shown in Figure 3 [14]. With the privatization of space exploration, the dream of building a
space habit on the scale of the Stanford Torus is now a possibility. Funds for space exploration
and research are no longer bounded to NASA’s budget anymore. There are now many other
major players involved in assisting NASA with space habitat research such as SpaceX, Orbital
Science, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and Bigelow Aerospace. Building a DSH like the one in
Figure 3 would allow the astronauts and scientists to live and work safely in space for up to a
year on missions to explore the space between geostationary and lunar orbit, near-Earth
asteroids, and even Mars [10].
NASA
Figure 3. The ISS-derived Deep Space Habitat concept demonstrator. From left to right, is the
Lab/Hab, tunnel, and Multi-Purpose Logistics Module.
On January 16, 2013, NASA has signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace to
build an inflatable, balloon-like module for the ISS as shown in Figure 4 [14]. This project is
called Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (Beam) and it is intended to demonstrate the
capabilities and progress of current available technologies. Working in conjunction with SpaceX,
it is scheduled to arrive at the ISS in 2015 through the eighth SpaceX cargo resupply mission.
Unlike traditional space modules which use aluminum and other metals, the interior walls of the
Beam module is made of floppy cloth while the exterior walls are made of Vectran, a bulletresistant material [14]. The light weight and flexible material allows for the ease of the Beam
module to be attached to the payload of SpaceX Dragon capsule, much like packing a T-shirt in a
suitcase. It would then be connected to an air lock on the ISS and inflated like a balloon where
researchers are planning to test the long term viability of the module. The station crew members
and ground-based engineers will gather performance data of the module pertaining to its
structural integrity and leak rate. These tests are important because it would be one step towards
the development of a large scale deep-space habitat like the Stanford Torus which will one day
harbor the necessities for deep space travel. William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for
human exploration and operations at NASA Headquarters states that “As we venture deeper into
Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stats in space will be a critical capability. Using the
station’s resources, we’ll learn how humans can work effectively with this technology in
space…” [15] Nevertheless, such a feat would not only mark the Beam module’s capabilities but
it would also display the payload capabilities of SpaceX’s rockets; the expected progress results
are twofold!
Bigelow Aerospace LLC
Figure 4. Computer rendering of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (Beam) interlocking
with the ISS. Beam is 13 feet long and 10 feet in diameter, with a volume of 560 cubic feet when
fully expanded [14].
Complications and Future Prospects
Although progress has been made towards lowering the cost of sending materials for the DSH
into space, trouble may still loom over the actual construction of the DSH in space. Space is a
vacuum and therefore friction doesn’t exist. Without friction, objects in space would be moving
along a single trajectory endlessly until they hit something! This poses a threat to the existence of
space habitats, as the goal is to eventually surpass the lower Earth orbit and keep the DSH
stationary, independent of help from the ISS. Knowing the exact location of the DSH would
allow astronauts to find their way back to it easier but space is also not as empty as we think it is.
The force of gravity is everywhere in space even though we can’t see it with the naked eye.
Every single spot in space is affected by the sphere of influence of a celestial mass, or its
gravitational pull [15]. According to Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion, force is equal to mass times
acceleration [16]. This means that forces due to gravity will accelerate a mass in the same
direction of the force. For us to create a self-sustaining habitat in deep-space, would require
propulsion to counteract these invisible forces and maintain its position. Propulsion is very
important in space because it allows a body to move freely from one point to another. Without
propulsion and constant refueling, the ISS as we know it today would crash to the ground on
Earth just as an asteroid would. Along with the 2nd law, the 1st law dictates that when an object is
in motion; it will stay in constant motion unless acted upon by another force [16]. Propulsion is
dictated by Newton’s laws and is the idea to eject a mass outward that will allow you to move in
the opposite direction. This would make self-sustaining habitats a hard goal to achieve because
the habitats would have to be refueled every once in a while just like the ISS. However, if in the
future we find a way to extract hydrogen from asteroids, the basic building block of all other
elements, then it may be possible to create fuel for deep-space habitats in the long term [17].
Despite the invisible forces from large celestial masses in space, all hope is not lost as there are
always exceptions. Specially formulated points in space may provide the perfect locations to
create indefinitely stationary, deep-space habitats. These points are called the Lagrange points
and they was discovered by the French mathematician Louis Lagrange in 1772 during his
gravitational study of how a smaller body would orbit around two orbiting large ones [15]. The
idea behind his conjecture is simple; a Lagrange point is defined as “locations in space where
gravitational forces and the orbital motion of a body balance each other” [15]. As shown in
Figure 6, there are currently five Lagrange points close to Earth that may be viable and ideal to
build a stationary, deep-space habitat on.
Freemars
Figure 6: Lagrange points near Earth - not drawn to scale.
Another issue to address is financing large scale deep-space habitat projects equivalent to
the ones we see in movies like Elysium. Ever since the launch of the ISS roughly over a decade
ago, countries like the U.S. have delayed the idea of such space habitats because the launch and
maintenance of the space station was about $3 billion per year including fuel costs [12].
However with many engineering companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic providing
methods for a cheaper mode of transportation, the idea of having space habitats and tourism may
be more feasible than we think. SpaceX boasts that it can build a Falcon 9 rocket with a 150
metric ton payload at a cost of only $300 million. This means that sending a pound of mass into
space would cost only about $1000,which is three times more cost-efficient than NASA’s SLS
[18].
Conclusion
Now let’s take a second and think about whether is this is financially feasible or not. In
the amount of dollars that was spent on constructing the facilities for the 2014 Sochi Winter
Olympics ($56 billion), we could have built another International Space Station and send it into
Earth’s orbit. The problem more or so lies in seeking enough financial support for the proposal
of a large scale space habitat as it will take more than the efforts of a single country alone. This
project would require the cooperation of many, if not all countries to help catalyze the
construction process of the DSH. The space race isn’t just exclusive to the United States and
USSR anymore, it is open to all countries. Although we may not currently be able to create a
Stanford Torus or Space Torus like the one in Elysium, we can start to take action and prepare
for it. We should not give up on our dream of building a self-sustaining space habitat just
because it may be seemingly impossible to achieve. Landing on the moon was once thought to be
an impossible feat, but it was proven wrong by individuals who continued to pursue that dream.
We should follow in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong, always striving for better. The first man to
step on the Moon had once said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” [8].
With many startup engineering companies now on the rise in the space race, the existence of
self-sustaining space habitats may be more realistic than we think.
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